Cameroon

Our Observer fled the Cameroonian town of Fotokol last week after Boko Haram carried out a deadly attack, in which at least 80 people were killed. He managed to return to Fotokol a few days later and sent us photos of a devastated city. Read more…

If there was a ranking of the craziest Internet swindles, this one might just win first place. A week ago, I got a call from a stranger who tried to convince me to buy a collection of small statues in order to save a village in northern Gabon. I smelled a rat, but, intrigued, decided to play along...

Cameroon’s football team was eliminated from the World Cup on Monday after losing to Brazil 4-1. The Lions, as the team is called, exited the competition with 0 points, 9 goals against them and only one goal scored. This was not to their fans’ liking, especially since before the start of the World Cup, the players had for a time refused to go to Brazil because they weren’t satisfied with the amount of prize money on offer. Read more...

Power outages are a daily problem for a number of African cities. But when it takes place in the middle of a football match, which just happens to be part of the World Cup, it can be a very harrowing experience for fans. Read more…

The government has launched a massive polio immunisation campaign in western Cameroon to counter the disease, which primarily affects children. The operation has overall been successful but is nonetheless encountering pockets of resistance, including, notably, from evangelical churches that are fighting tooth and nail to prevent the vaccination of children.Read more...

For more than a week, thousands of curious and pious individuals from all over Cameroon have been flocking to see a mysterious stain on the wall of a home in the capital of Yaoundé that allegedly resembles the face of Jesus Christ. Our Observers visited the home to make up their own minds…

Alum stone, which has astringent properties, is used throughout the world to make cosmetics, in particular deodorant and aftershave. However in Cameroon, like in several African countries, it is sought after for another reason: traditional beliefs hold that it can restore a woman’s virginity. Read more...

In Garoua-Boulaï, a town located right on the border with the Central African Republic (CAR), residents are growing fearful that their neighbouring country’s conflict will spill over to their side. Indeed, hundreds of Central African fighters have been using the border zone as a staging ground for their battles. Gunshots fired on the CAR side of the border are making the residents of Garoua-Boulaï increasingly jittery. Read more...

Residents have gone on the rampage in a so-called 'witch-hunt' in the Cameroonian town of Buéa. They destroyed homes and burnt cars in the city's southern neighbourhood of Tolé, accusing the district's people of being witches and members of a 'cult' that they say is behind several recent deaths. Read more...

Early on Thursday morning, a man was lynched in the middle of the street in Douala, Cameroon, by a crowd that accused him of stealing a motorbike. Our Observer tried to intervene to save him, in vain. Read more...